Gettysburg [DVD]

Great take on the Gettysburg story this documentary puts a lot of realism in the story following individual soldiers, through the three days of Gettysburg. Excellent Combat reenactments. Highly suggest.

The Battle of Gettysburg is moderately well known to Americans and most foreign university students. The details of this three day battle involving 150,000 men are usually the interest of historians and veterans. Lee tried some of the same tactics as Union generals had used against him and for which they lost thousands of men (frontal attack with massed infantry). The South did fairly well in the first two years of the war but didn't have the manpower, equipment, naval power, and international support of the Union. This video has interviews and battle re-creations scenes that make it one of the best documentaries. People interested in this chapter of American history or military history in general may see this in combination with Ken Burns "Civil War" and the feature film versions like "Gods and Generals" and "Gettysburg".The Gettysburg victory was hard fought. The Union almost lost all the high ground and one of their flanks (ex. the battle of Little Round Top). Fighting was both far and close (hand to hand), very extreme from today's perspective. The Union army held the hills, the center of town, and use a defensive approach with long range rifles and cannons, and did not retreat, the Union inflicted losses on Confederate army that they could not recover from. Union wins in Vicksburg and Atlanta, and the ability to hold territory, were among the other factors that brought this 4 year war with loss of 600,000 men to an end.

As an historian who has done extensive research into Gettysburg and its participants, I realize that no one program can cover all aspects of the great battle. Even if I accept that principle there is still no excuse for stated errors in the narration.It is so easy to get it right that I am appalled at how often these programs get it wrong. I give a few examples:1. Stonewall Jackson did NOT die in battle as stated in the program. He was shot by his own pickets and died a month later of pneumonia.2. Clara Barton did NOT found the Red Cross. That honor goes to Jean Henri Dunant of Switzerland. Barton can only be credited with bringing the Red Cross to the US.3. Meade's battle formation did not see the potential value of Little Round Top, although Sickles' move forward further exposed the vulnerable weakness of the Union left flank. Warren's quick assessment of the danger and the sacrifice of commanders like Strong Vincent and Paddy O'Rourke made the difference.4. While I am relieved not to hear so much about Pickett (who hated having his name attached to that disastrous charge) there was no mention of Pettigrew and Trimble, whose units sacrificed far more during the charge.5. And finally -- perhaps a point that only I can make -- the reference to men under Davis futilely planting a flag on the Union wall is not only without substantiation, but has been disproved by the publication of the diary written by Lt. William H. Peel, Company C of the 11th Mississippi. Since I am the transcriber and researcher who published the diary (available on Amazon) I can state with confidence that the flag story told by Pvt. Joseph Marable was fabricated by that gentlemen for his own reasons. There never was proof that it happened and Peel's account proves that it could not have happened.Perhaps a future researcher will see this and pay heed. For my own part I am so tired of the endless parade of documentaries that not only leave out essential elements, but exacerbate our national ignorance with factual fallacies and the repetition of long disproved myths.

Many movies and documentaries have tried and tried again to develop realistic Civil War fighting scenes. What you get when you watch those films are pretty much the same: fat, heavily bearded reenactors dressed in crisp, clean uniforms bulging around their bellies as they march in perfect unison and rank. The movie will show you how the Civil War really was: groups of dirty, haggard young guys covered in filth and blood as they fight for their lives. Folks, the American Civil War was no romantic, Napoleonic-type affair; it was in fact the beginning of a new age of warfare and this movie shows it in each scene. Each battle is heart-pounding, with gritty and bloody scenes not meant for the squeamish.Many people have criticized this video because it doesn't focus on what exactly happened and instead is just entertainment. Who cares? We have dozens of long, boring movies that tell about the Battle of Gettysburg in full detail. We don't have many videos like this that bursts the historian's romantic view of how the Civil War really was. I only wish people were more open-minded to movies like this so that the History Channel would make more...Bottom line is: if you're looking for a movie that accurately describes what happened at Gettysburg, then skip over this movie and get Ken Burns' documentary or something. If you're searching for true accounts of what happened there that is displayed in such a vivid and graphic manner then grab this video. It's also great for a general knowledge of what happened to those who no nothing of this battle.

I liked the fact the DVD film was not overly long in length

Voici une très bonne reconstitution de la bataille de Gettysburg!, on s'y croirait presque! C'est instructif et terrifiant à la fois. Pour ceux qui s'intéressent à la guerre de sécession américaine, c'est un "épisode" (sanglant) à connaitre car il marqua LE tournant dans la victoire finale des unionistes.

J'aime sans plus un film narré comme un documentaire par Tony et Ridley Scott manque un peu de moyen.Rien à voir avec le GETTYSBURG avec Tom BERENGER Jeff DANIELS et Martin SHEEN même si ce film est disponible en région 1 et en langue Française, il est facilement transformable sur un ordi.

Bien sans plus, beaucoup de commentaires entre les scènes, fatigant à suivre. Cela gâche le plaisir à suivre l'histoire. Dommage.

Très bon documentaire

ce documentaire n'est pas a la hauteur du film gettysburg mais il se laisse bien regarde. Je le recommande aux amateurs de la civil war